Using the MakerShield โ LCD Display
LCD screens look complicated but using an Arduino and a MakerShield, you can easily make your own LCD display shield! Check out this tutorial from Make: Projects.
microcontroller
Custom Hardware to Fix Broken iPod
While most people would simply throw away an out-of-warranty iPod with a broken play/pause button, Craig gave his a new lease on life by attaching a custom-hacked dock connector. Inside the connector, he stuffed an ATtiny 13 microcontroller with a few other passive components. Now when he pushes the button on the connector, the ATtiny [โฆ]
How-To: Fingertip heart rate monitor
Hereโs a well-documented and rather enlightening project from Embedded Lab: This project demonstrates a technique to measure the heart rate by sensing the change in blood volume in a finger artery while the heart is pumping the blood. It consists of an infrared LED that transmits an IR signal through the fingertip of the subject, [โฆ]
DIY under-cabinet LED lighting
Instructable user Esterill shows how to make your own swanky under-cabinet LED lighting scheme on a budget and the results are quite professional looking. For extra measure, Esterill used a microcontroller to fade the LEDs up when theyโre turned on and added a โhalf brightโ mode for times when dimmer light is desired. Nice touch!
Texting your door lock: โopen pls. TYโ
You can leave your keys at home with this clever hack by Billy Chasen, who rigged up his deadbolt to a Propeller-based Spinneret Web Server. Using an SMS gateway called Twilio, he can open and close the lock by tapping out a quick text message. Not only that, but the system also responds to acknowledge [โฆ]
Make It Last Build Series: โHello, worldโ blinky light on a PIC
If you havenโt already heard, weโre excited to be running the Make It Last, a project build series and contest, sponsored by Microchip and Energizer. Throughout the course of this series, weโre going to cover three project builds, each demonstrating an example of low-power design using microcontrollers. Just getting started? We suggest you take a [โฆ]
Embedded Entertainment System
Luis Cruz of Honduras built this Embedded Entertainment System using a total of four microcontrollers.
